UPDATE 1-Italy pension funds have little Lehman exposure-agency

(adds Tremonti in paragraph 3, combines previous stories)

ROME, Sept 17 (Reuters) - Italian pension funds have negligible direct exposure to the shares or bonds of U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers, which has filed for bankruptcy protection, pension fund regulator Covip said on Wednesday.

On the basis of a preliminary evaluation of around 65 percent of occupational pension funds' assets, direct exposure to Lehman Brothers amounts to just 0.1 percent of managed funds, the watchdog said in a statement.

Economy Minister Giulio Tremonti told parliament on Wednesday that the Treasury was not a creditor of Lehman Brothers, and its collapse posed no financial problems for the Treasury.

Earlier this week the Bank of Italy said Italian banks and financial institutions had "limited" exposure to Lehman Brothers LEH.N, which filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday.

Italy's leading investment bank, Mediobanca, has no exposure to Lehman Brothers, a source at the bank said, and the country's biggest bank by market value, UniCredit (CRDI.MI), said its exposure was very limited.

Leading insurer Assicurazioni Generali (GASI.MI) said its exposure to Lehman's debt was a maximum 110 million euros, with no exposure to its shares.

On Tuesday, Tremonti said Italy's banking system was solid and the country would emerge from the international financial crisis "stronger than before".